Mr. Bush, you speak half-truths and bold lies.

[The Whiskey Priest]

"Our economy is healthy, and vigorous, and growing faster than other major industrialized nations. In the last two-and-a-half years, America has created 4.6 million new jobs, more than Japan and the European Union combined. Even in the face of higher energy prices and natural disasters, the American people have turned in an economic performance that is the envy of the world." SOTU 1/31/06.

Yes, the American people are working longer, harder and smarter. The only thing is they are not sharing in the growth of wealth. The gap between the bottom 99% and the top 1% is continuing to grow and the rate of growth has accelerated over the last 5 years.

The poverty is now a systemic problem with 12.7 percent of the population now living in poverty. In particular child poverty which has gone from 16.3 percent in 2001 to 17.8 percent <1.3 million children under the age of 18>. (U.S. Census Bureau, Aug. 2005, Tables B-1 and B-2)

The Republican Party has institutionalized the disregard of the ordinary citizen and is now dedicated to the service of the well-to-do. Unless you are one of the wealthy contributors from their base,you don’t count and the prosperity, or lack thereof, of your family is of no concern to the republican leaders.

Today, the Republican Party is openly heaping more advantage, more money and lifting responsibility from the rich elite. The tax bills enacted since 2001 “have helped high-income households far more than other households,” according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. Households with incomes exceeding $1 million have received average tax cuts of $103,000, “an increase of 5.4 percent in their after-tax income.” But in 2005, the bottom fifth of households “will receive an average combined tax cut of $18 from these bills, raising their after-tax income by 0.3 percent.”

The Republican apparatchik has skillfully crafted the tax cuts into time bombs that hide their true effect detonating at a time and in a way that the rich will call for more increases and the average citizen will be unable to discern what the real affect upon their lives.

Once again the Republicans have crafted the debate in a way so that the true is hidden from the electorate…once again the media is assisting in this duplicitous and callous endeavor to pull-the-wool-over the eyes of the hard working Americans, who do not have the time, nor the resources to find the truth.

Lies, lies, lies the Republican world is built upon lies.